Queens Of The Stone Age

Following the demise of Californian stoner rock heroes Kyuss, frontman Josh Homme reunited with drummer Alfredo Hernandez to reignite his previous Seattle-based project Gamma Ray. That band’s origins lay in Homme’s time in the Pacific Northwest, following a tour with Screaming Trees that had seen him form a firm friendship with frontman Mark Lanegan. Homme rechristened Gamma Ray as Queens Of The Stone Age, releasing their self-titled debut in 1998.

In the wake of Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveira left cult punk outfit The Dwarves to rejoin his old bandmates in QOTSA. Dave Catching was added on keys and guitar and the band embarked on heavy duty touring, bringing their groove-laden riff rock around the US. Homme took a brief late 90s detour to work on the Desert Sessions project, a collection of six albums with a huge revolving cast of musicians from other like-minded rock bands, including Wool, Monster Magnet, Earthlings and Soundgarden.

Rated R

The band’s 2000 album Rated R was a notable breakthrough, accumulating enthusiastic reviews and significant airplay for singles ‘Feel Good Hit Of The Summer’ and ‘The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret’. Word about the Queens was spreading fast, helped along by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana who repeatedly championed them in interviews.

The band invited Grohl to join them for their third album, 2002’s Songs For The Deaf. The album was a massive success, catapulting the band into rock’s highest echelons, helped along by the omnipresence of single ‘No One Knows’. With Grohl on drums, Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan assisting on vocals and Troy van Leeuwen of A Perfect Circle on keys, Queens Of The Stone Age toured extensively, while Homme also found time to play drums for Eagles Of Death Metal and form Headband with Oliveira and members of Marilyn Manson and Amen.

By the time QOTSA returned with 2005’s Lullabies To Paralyze, Oliveira had departed. Grohl had returned to the Foos, with Joey Castillo replacing him on drums. Ex Vulgaris cemented their reputation in 2007, but things went quiet afterwards as Homme instead focused on numerous side projects, included Them Crooked Vultures with Grohl and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones.

Like Clockwork

It was 2012 before a new Queens album arrived. …Like Clockwork featured a starry cast including Elton John, Grohl, Lanegan and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and also saw the return of Nick Oliveira. It was followed in 2017 by Villains.

In 2019, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top confirmed that both he and Grohl had played on an as-yet-unreleased new Queens Of The Stone Age album. In 2023, the band finally announced their eighth studio album In Times New Roman…, set for release in June 2023 and preceded by the singles ‘Emotion Sickness’ and ‘Carnavoyeur’.

Headlining Glastonbury

Ahead of their eagerly anticipated headline show on Glastonbury’s Other Stage and sold-out UK shows, Queens Of The Stone Age announced details of The End Is Nero UK and European Arena tour. The autumn 2023 dates will kick off on 4 November at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome before getting to the UK on 14 November at Manchester AO Arena and London’s The O2 on 15 November. The End Is Nero tour ends on 22 November at Dublin’s 3Arena.

The End Is Nero tour is an invitation from the band to come celebrate the end of the world, which they hear is “in a month or two”. They would like to encourage the obscene and the clean, the outcasts and the weirdos, and anyone and everyone in between to attend, this is where you belong. Leave your judgement at the door, bring anything and everything else.